Post-Apocalyptic
by isabeleaharts
Summary: The world was thrown apart by Nuclear war, family and friends were separated in the post-apocalyptic world. Follow Tris Prior on her quest to find her family as she meets a fellow traveler by the name of Four and his dog who is searching for his friends in the wasteland of the USA. They stumble across settlements, mods and governs on their way to the fallen city of Chicago.
1. Chapter 1

I trudge along the dirt road, I knew it was dangerous to stay on the path, but yet I continued on. Each foot in front of the other, each step followed another. I wiped sweat from my forehead untying my bandana from my wrist and tying my hair back. I felt the dust in my thick hair, I needed to find a river to wash it soon. The hot sun hammered down on me but I continued on.

A broken down gas station came into view on the right of the path, the old oil pumps long demolished. I raised my hunting knife, it was an older type from the civil war - at least that's what my dad used to tell me. The leather bound handle gave a nice feeling in my hand and didn't slip when I was sweaty. I approached the gas station slowly, passing a cracked tyre destroyed by years of sun. The glass door of the station was broken, glass splintered everywhere and I got reminded for the hundredth time why mom gave me these old work boots. I stepped slowly into the trashed convenience store. I saw what I expected, knocked down shelves and moulding milk in the fridge that probably hadn't work since the electricity shut off. I checked under a few boxes of cereal that wouldn't be edible anymore, and found what I hoped for. Cans. Cans of beans and chilli, I wondered how I got so lucky. I slipped my rucksack off my back and shoved the two cans in. Adding to the weight of my bag significantly but at least it was food. I swung the bag back onto my bag before rummaging through the cabinets and leaving with nothing else.

I left the old station and back into the insufferable heat and I continued walking on. Kicking up dirt and stones from the split asphalt. A pop sound from behind me made me quickly whip around, then a sound I hadn't heard in a really long time I almost didn't believe my ears. I wasn't mistaken though coming over the horizon was a running man trailed by a dog, it was a dog bark I heard. The surprise at seeing what appeared to be another human kept me frozen in my stance, my hand still gripping my knife. His shouts broke me from my rigid stance.

"Run!" Then I saw the couple of mods that were chasing him and the dog, so I did as he said and I ran, I took a sharp left into the trees. The mods weren't smart all we had to do was get out of sight and they would forget about us, We needed to find somewhere to hide. It wasn't long before the man caught up the me his dog on his otherside. His laboured breath told me he had been running for awhile, I saw the large pile of stones up ahead.

"Hide behind the rocks," The mods were far enough behind, so we quickened our pase and threw ourselves behind the boulders, not 4 seconds later the mods ran right passed us and down the hills. The man and I caught our breaths, coughing up the dust I kicked up. His dog took a final look around before lying flat on the grass, him too exhausted. The man shifted, sticking his gun in his holster and I put my knife away as well. The adrenaline finally wore out, and I took a good look at the man next to me. He was a lot younger than I first assumed, his growing stubble made him look older from afar but he looked early twenties at most. His light brown hair was a mess, but I'm sure so was mine, I don't even remember the last time I looked in a mirror. His body was lean but whose wouldn't be with limited food and constant running, if you were fit you were already dead. His dark eyes glanced back at me once his breaths slowed.

"What are you staring out?" He growled out, his eyes narrowed.

"I," I paused - not having heard my own voice in awhile. "I have't seen a person in awhile," His eyes softened, the angry look gone after I spoke. Just then I was reminded of the dog who had made his way over to me sniffing me over. I went to lift my hand to pet him but he skidded away from him.

"She was skittish before the fallout now, she'e just wary," He warned me, her coat was a mixed of everything, not any breed I assumed.

"Where'd you happen across the mods?" I finally asked him, as he went to stand up, offering his hand to me, I took it and he pulled me up. He towered over me but I was pretty short. Mod was short for Modifications which was the nickname from the radiation charged humans. Other their pale, rotting skin they still resembled people but it wasn't hard to tell the difference. The closer you got to where the blast originated the more mods you would find, people who never got to enter the bunkers to save themselves and were far too close to the blast to survive without one.

" ," He then paused, thinking. "What is left of is just a mile east of here, I was looking through the suburbs,"

"What were you doing there?" I asked, his face dropped and I knew I shouldn't have asked.

"Looking for a friend," He said simply, we both stood there. I wasn't rushing to leave, I hadn't seen another person in months and I needed the company before I went insane.

"I'm heading in the direction of Chicago, where the government sanctuary is rumoured to be," His eyes narrowed.

"You believe that wives tale?"

"I'm also looking for a friend," I growled to him, his face dropped as well and my anger calmed. "I think everyone has heard the tale, I reckon whoever you're looking for will be heading that direction too," He whistled quickly and the dog rose and trotted to his side.

"I think if we are going to be travelling together we should get to know one other," He spoke, I smiled at him and we began to trudged on back north, towards Chicago. "You can call me Four," I looked over at him and he smiled. "Yes like the number. Her name is Polly," As I turned to look at the dog I was surprised I ever mistook her for a male, even her walk was feminine as she followed us along.

"My name is Tris," I said simply not really knowing what introduction included now a days.

"You said you've been alone for awhile now, how long?" I thought about the question for awhile, our feet crunching the leaves filled the silence.

"Nearly a month now. I left one of the settlements near Memphis," I told Four, I thought about how much my life changed over the last year. "What about you?"

"Right after the attack my friend and I moved away from the suburbs of New York to a small town. We managed to keep that town alive until four months ago," His voice trailed off.

"Is that who you are looking for? Your friends?" I asked, his cast down and he stayed silent. I left he subject alone. We continued walking, not long the terrain changed and as we looked around I saw the bodies of abandoned planes in the distance. "Must be one of the old airports?"

"We need to be careful, I mean there shouldn't be too many mods since we left behind us but still we should be careful," I told him, he just nodded in agreement. We kept walking in silence, the land scape constantly changing, we had to enter a few more urban areas but nothing too dense that we couldn't see around us. Plus Four promised me the dog would bark had she heard anything but I hadn't heard a peep from her since the mods in the forest. Finally we entered a more wooded area. "We should stop for the night here while there is still cover," Four dropped his bag in the flattest area we found. He kept his gun on him still.

"I'll check around, you stay here," He told me, I pulled a few logs to make low bench or somewhere to rest our backs, I threw a few twigs together and some leaves together, grabbing one of the many lighters I had from my rucksack. People never told you this but the first thing people grab when the world is ending is not lighters for a cigarette but that helped me. I never ran out of lighters because every station and store still had some even after an entire year. I lit a small fire leaning in to warm myself, as the sun dropped below the horizon the temperature dramatically dropped. I grabbed my sweater from my bag, pulling it over my dirty hair. I knew we were near the river and we would have to cross it anyway. My crumpled map was stuffed in the bottom of my bag, I only needed to check it at night it wasn't that hard to stay on track as long as I kept heading roughly north. Soon Polly joined me back at the fire as she curled up near the heat and Four wasn't far behind her.

"I killed two squirrels, looks safe enough to eat," He announced as he came to sit down on my makeshift logs. I check it over before grabbing my knife and skinning it quickly, I set a log across the fire and hung the meat over the log, it saved me using up my canned food. "Since we are all comfortable," He said looking over at Polly smiling. "Tell me your whole story," I looked at him curiously, his lips curled upwards. "Age? Family? Hometown? Come on don't be shy," He smiled at me, I just rolled my eyes.

"I guess I'd be 18 now. I grew up in Miami and that's where we were when the attacks happened, friends had a small bunker that kept us safe for the most part of the attacks. We stayed at our house for nearly 6 months after before we began having to really look for food. We moved to a large settlement West of Orlando and we were there for a good 3 months before the entire settlement moved as well. I think we were near Ocala for another couple months. That was before the govers came in, they took most of the adults to train them to manage this 'new society' or whatever they promised. I've been looked for my parents and brother ever since making my way up from Florida trying to avoid any major urban areas. I did see a few settlements and I've stopped a few times the last time was in Memphis for a few weeks but other than that I've been constantly on the move. The govers said they took them to Chicago to the sanctuary there but I don't know if that is even true," I told him, he didn't say much, just poked at the meat to see if it was ready to eat. He ripped a piece off and tasted it. He tossed a piece to Polly and she gobbled it right up. I took a piece and started chewing it, savouring the flavour. "What about you? I know you said you ran that town but what else?"

"Since I asked, I'd be 20 soon. I left my father behind in New York but yeah I kept that town going with my friends, it was mostly families and we had a lot of canned food but my friends and I learned how to be hunters. There was only 24 of us in this settlement but it was a lot of organisation. We got broken up by raiders, we didn't have enough weapons to fend them off. The raiders were insane I think the radiation got to their brain, they took a few of the kids so my friends went off to try and get back the kids and never came back. I waited for them with the families for weeks before the families gave up and went their separate ways. I've been looking for them every since, stopping at each settlement I've come across and they kept say the raiders always head north creating havoc," Four's voice was somber and I knew my situation was bad but so was his, so was everyones. Everyone has lost someone at this point. We'd finished the meat, throwing another piece to the dog and she seemed content.

"We should get some rest," I said finally and Four just nodded. I pulled my sleeping bag that I took from the Memphis camp, it was far warmer than my last one. It was the end of the world but I did have more than one set of clothes. Well I had two, day clothes and night clothes. I stood up quickly changing my shirt, and pulling off my bra. I did wash the clothes a few days ago, I was running really low on supplies I really needed to stop at a settlement soon for soap and new clothes. I turned to see Four staring at my back, my face went red. "Sorry I'm not used to having a guy around," I said, the blood rushing into my face.

"Sorry I shouldn't stare," He said and he went to pull off his shirt, exposed his defined stomach and large tattoos which I didn't noticed peeked out of his shirt, the long black flames covered his back but I couldn't see anymore as he laid down. I was the one staring now, the dog broke my gaze as she made her way over to where Four had his sleeping back and he threw a blanket out for her, pulling it over her. I lied down pulling myself into my sleeping, my eyes searching the tree above as sleep took over my tired bones and for once in a long time I didn't feel alone.

―――――――――――――――――-

I awoke to rustling and I quickly grabbed my knife and shot up from my sleeping bag, I then saw the back of Four and realised it was just him relighting the fire. The morning air was cold with the sun just rising and luckily still had my jacket on. The smaller branches rocked in the morning breeze.

"Morning," Four spoke without even turning and I just yawned in return. I walked a few meters away to change back into my day clothes that were really beginning to stink. I had a small bottle of soap still left but I also collected the leaves that you are able to make soap from. Four seemed to have hunted a small pigeon and was cooking it on the fire. The general rule out here was if it wasn't covered in rotting flesh or losing hair or feathers it was probably safe to eat. Everything touched by the radiation showed signs of it, much like the Mods. "We need to start moving soon, so eat up," He told me, I walked over to join him by the fire grabbing a few pieces of meat. It wasn't a lot of food but you got used to starving so this was better than nothing.

We both began packing up our few belongings, stamping out the fire and continuing on northwards towards our destination. The dog trailed behind us, searching the woods for anything dangerous. It was almost strange not being paranoid the entire time, with Four and Polly I could relax more and it was calming.

The same routine continued for days and we were sure we were making good progress but honestly it was hard to tell. We were sure we were approaching near Springfield and we had to head East to avoid the more urban areas. We were walking along prairies before we happened along a farm, we ducked under the wooden fence and across the corn fields. The corn towered over us, their leaves sharp against my arm. Just then we heard the bark and growl of Polly. Just as I turned and I looked in front of me and Four was gone. "Tris!" His voiced echoed far in front of me and I took off running. The barking continued, her growls loud but without sight I couldn't see how far she was. All I could hear was the corn rustling and I couldn't tell if that was me or someone else. The barking was still in front of me, and suddenly I tripped out of the corn and landing on the mud of the ground. I looked up to see three people staring down at me. Two were men and did not look friendly, their eyes were narrowed down towards me. The woman's eyes were soft but her stance said otherwise. Just then Four jumped out of the crops behind me, Polly still growling behind him, his gun was raised and quickly the two men raised their shotguns.


	2. Chapter 2

"I would suggest you lower your gun, hand it over, and call off your dog," The woman spoke, Four glared at the two men and realised he was far outnumbered and handed the gun over to the woman slowly. He whistled and Polly sat right down her stance tense. "You'll come with us," The woman walked and the men forced us to follow her. Her dark hair laid down her back, Four walked tight next to me. When he looked down at me I just gave him a small nod that I was alright. As we headed left around the corn we saw makeshift tents from sheets and blankets. There were a few people working on crops to the right and in the middle was a bonfire pit. There was a man and a woman sitting on chairs by one of the tents and that appeared to be where were we heading. They looked up as we approached, their expression confused.

"Who are the visitors?" The woman's voice soft and she smiled as she spoke.

"We found them in the corn," A man pronounced from behind us.

"What are you doing in this area?" The woman asked us, I turned to Four.

"We are moving towards Chicago - we don't mean any harm, we thought the house would be a good place to spend the night, we didn't know there was a settlement here," Four spoke, the woman just nodded but her gaze was fixed on me.

"Are you Caleb's sister, Beatrice?" I froze at the name of my brother, my eyes wide at her but I nodded slowly.

"How do you know that name? And my name is Tris," This was the first clue I had ever heard of my brother or parent's since they left.

"He was set here by the Govers to recruit more people, he told me to look for you, he had a picture of you when you were younger but you haven't changed much," My heart swelled that Caleb was still alive and that he was looking for me.

"How long ago was that?" I asked praying it was a few days and I would be able to find him.

"It was nearly a week ago and the Govers have cars so he could be anywhere now," She admitted sadly, my face dropped. "But the Govers hit this settlement every week and they sometimes drop off supplies so if you want you can stay until then, it should be at most two or three days until they show up and you can asked them where Caleb is now," I looked to Four, his brown eyes worried but softened when he saw mine. He just nodded back to me. "Great. We don't allow guns on camp unless you are security so your boyfriend will get his back when you two leave," Both sets of eyes snap to the woman's, not missing the title.

"Four is his name and he is not my boyfriend," I commented quickly back and the woman just smiled.

"I'm sorry. Susan here will show you two to a tent, we only have one free so you'll have to share. Also if you would like to help out just while you stay that will be very helpful with two more mouths to feed," The woman commented waving us off.

The woman who was there when I tripped out of the cornfield was obviously Susan as she led us both off towards the camps. It was a small camp, probably just over twenty tents but that was nearly 50 people if the tents held 2-3 people. Susan pointed us to the tent, Four and I dumped our bags there. Polly was trailing behind us, panting and walking but not so tense anymore.

"I'm going to find someone to help, why don't you ask around about your friends?" I said to Four, he nodded. His quiet demeanour worried me as he silently looked around the camp. "You ok?" I stared him until he met my gaze and when he didn't he physically relaxed.

"Yeah I'm fine, yeah I'll ask around," He said before he wandered off with Polly trailing him. He walked in the direction of the patrolling security while I headed towards the farm but I took a detour when I saw the what looked like a laundry tent. When I entered the tent the older woman there looked up at me.

"Where did you come from?" She asked as she scrubbed the clothes, her eyes were kind and her laughter lines were long wrinkled.

"Just stopping here," I said, she smiled back solemnly. "Do you have any extra clothes I can take while I wash these?" I gestured to the clothes I have one. The woman rinsed her hands and gave me a good look, before turning behind to a small screened off area of the tent, I assumed it was a changing room. Behind it was a shelve cabinet that they presumable stole from the farm house that had a few layers of clothes. She picked up a few pair of pants, button up shirts and sports bras turned to pass them to me. "Oh I don't need all of these,"

"You'll need it and it's fine, but we don't have a lot of people as small as you so the clothes will be a bit big," She looked down then and caught site of my shoes. She turned behind her and leaned over and turned to show me a pair of new-looking black combat boots. "I've never found someone that fit these boots, try them on they look your size," She said to me, I took off my beloved mother's boots my blistered feet made the woman sigh. She tossed me a pair of clean socks and I put them on before trying on the boots. They fit, not perfectly but even better than my mother's boots did. "Keep the boots, and we have a few pairs of socks for you to take as well, change now I'll clean your clothes now as well."

"Thank you," I said seriously to the woman and she just waved me off. I changed quickly into a set of the clothes she gave me. The dark cargo pants was going to be great for not showing dirt and they fit relatively well the shirt was large but I just left the bottom buttons undone and just tied it up.

"Wait I forgot about this," The lady said and through the makeshift curtains passed me a parka, the soft fur around the neck was so warming.

"I can't take this," I said as I exited the changing room, she was continuing with her washing.

"Take it,"

"Thank you so much. Can I send my.." I paused awkwardly. "My friend over to get some clothes, if he needs them?" She smiled at my stutter and just winked.

"Oh honey even in the end of the world boys are always trouble but of course I'll have to see how big he is thought," I didn't know what to say to that but I finally thought of something.

"Oh that's not what I meant," I laughed awkwardly. "But I'll tell him," I thanked her once again before heading out of the tent with my 'new' clothes. I dropped them off at the camp before heading to the actual farm part of this farm camp. The noise of the pigs alerted me of the animals, before I got within 50 meters of the farm someone yelled.

"Get out of here Robert," The shout ringed out but it was followed by silence and then a woman stuck her head around the tent corner. It was Susan once again and her face blushed when she realised it wasn't Robert, whoever he is. "Oh sorry Tris, my pesty brother is always stealing food so come on in," I passed the group of pigs on me left as I entered the food cabin.

"How many animals do you have?" I asked Susan as she was cutting up potatoes and had a pile of tomatoes on the side.

"Three boars and five sows, two cows for milk, eight chickens," Susan listed off, I was impressed.

"Do you need help?" I asked finally.

"You can wash the tomatoes if you want, the bowl of water is over there," She said gesturing to the obviously homemade table. It looked like a fallen down tree they sawed in half and stuck more trees under to make it high enough. I stubbed away at the tens of tomatoes in front of me. "Your brother is Caleb?" She asked me as she cut the potatoes.

"Yeah I've been looking for him for months," I admitted to her.

"Four is your..?" She trailed off.

"I actually met him a few days ago out in the woods, so a friend," I told her, she didn't look over at me and I thought something was up.

"How long was Caleb here for?"

"He only stayed a few nights, he was really sweet and he convinced the Govers to bring us supplies so now they drop off food and the occasional oil for the chainsaws," She told me, I could tell the way she's speaking she had a little crush on my brother but I wasn't going to bring it up.

We continued cleaning and cutting the food until we were done and then we brought it out to the fire. As Susan and I were walking towards the fire pit a group of young and older men made there way over and seeing Polly near the back meant Four was there somewhere. A few were carrying shotguns and the rest hunting knives, much more modern knives than my father's knife. They were all laughing carrying birds that they must have shot, even Four was joining in the backslapping and he was smiling. Polly saw me and ran over to me wagging her tail and jumping up to see what I had in the bowl. Four smiled when he saw me and gave me a wink as they began de-feathering the birds and skinning them to cut. Susan and I set up the potatoes and tomatoes to cook on the fire along side the birds.

As soon as the food was ready everyone from the camp was around. "We don't really have a lot of plates, we just stole them from the farm house and the neighbouring farm house like most of the supplies we have so you can share with me," Susan said as she grabbed some food for us. We sat down on the log benches and Four came to sat next to me with another man.

"Hi nice to meet you I'm Robert, Susan's brother," Robert said sticking his hand out to shake mine.

"Hi I'm Tris," I said and he just nodded as we continued on eating the food. Four kept tossing food back to Polly and she was more than happy to eat all the bird he was throwing her but when he threw tomato she bit into it before leaving it there. She was not too impressed.

"Where did you live when the attack happened?" Susan asked me. No one ever talked about what happen it's always just called 'The Attack'.

"Miami, I've been moving around a few settlements since then, most quite small though," I told her, she just nodded.

"Robert and I lived in St. Louis, even without a bunker we managed but some of the neighbour kids and old people didn't fare as well and got really sick," She said solemnly. Everything West of Denver would've been far too radiated to be inhabited and the whole of California was obliterated. The uncomfortable silence grew, like a radiated mould growing on old stone. Soon it was broken as Four leaned over to steal food from Susan and I's plate and I slapped his hand away. He rubbed his hand.

"Ow that really hurt," He said pouting as Robert just laughed at him.

"Get your own food," I growled back at him as he just chuckled at me.

"Jesus Polly you are meant to protect me," He said looking back at the dog. She just looked up at him, her eyes narrowed as she gave a low bark back and put her head back on the floor. Susan and I laughed at him then, as the dog continued her unimpressed stature. Susan and Robert stood up so did Four and I.

"Once dinner is over we all just head off to bed, someone is on dishes duty tonight so you guys can head off. Thanks for your help Tris,"

"No problem, good night," Four and I headed back towards our tent, Polly in tow of us. It was started to get cold and I was looking forward to the parka that the lady gave me earlier.

"How was your evening," Four asked, his voice low as he smiled over at me. He seemed so much happier now that we were alone.

"I checked out their laundry tent and got a bunch of clothes, the lady said you could go over tomorrow to see if they have anything for you," I told him, he just nodded. "Are you ok staying here? You seem really quiet around other people," I asked him seriously when we got to our tent. He just stopped to look at me, my eyes searching his face. He watched my expression before sighing.

"I'm fine, I'm just untrusting ok," He admitted quietly, and I only just caught what he was saying.

"You seem to trust me fine," I said simply and he just looked at me again his brown eyes soft and kind.

"I guess your just trustworthy but seriously I'll be fine," He said simply and gave me a wink, I rolled my eyes at him.

"Ok as long as you're ok here," He just nodded to me smiling and we both headed into the tent, and slept alongside each other with the dog at our feet.


	3. Chapter 3

I woke the next morning and both Four and Polly were gone, there were soft noises of people talking so I got up. Putting on the bras the last gave me yesterday which fit perfectly. I stretched as I got out of the tent looking around, behind the other tents I could see the fire already going so i went over there seeing a few settlers gathered around. Susan waved me over to where she was holding a cup in front of the fire.

"It's just water, oh how much I miss coffee," She said reminiscing about life before the attack. She gestured to over by one of the tents where there was cartons of water and cups that had the same govern logo that I'd seen on their uniforms. I grabbed a cup and filled it before walking back over to Susan.

"Where'd Four go?" I asked, looking around not seeing him along the small bands of people gathered.

"They had some target practice this morning with the knives and after seen how good he was with weapons they made him join patrol," Susan said smiling, I'd hadn't even seen Four work with weapons other than skinning a bird but he really painted a picture with those tattoos. "Ok so you two aren't screwing around," I laughed choking on the water I was drinking.

"No we aren't! Why does everyone keep asking that?" I laughed trying to stop coughing from the water I inhaled.

"He's really fit Tris, I'd tap that but I'm pretty sure he hates me," She spoke, I could tell she was just envisioning his body in her mind.

"Yeah he is really fit and I'm sure he doesn't hate you he's just been really quiet while he's here,"

"So you like talk to him in private? Like what about?" She was taking an awkward interest in my relations with Four but it was nice to feel like a teenager again, a teenager before the world ended.

"The past, he's really sweet actually," All Susan could do was wink at my comment and I just rolled my eyes. Soon one of the settlers brought out eggs and parts of a pig to cook up. "You guys have a really smart system for food here," I commented realising all the pigs were bred for meat and since they were such large pigs they made a lot of edible meat.

"We were just lucky the pigs stayed alive long enough without too much radiation damage, all the animals are from the original farm and the herd of cows must've wandered off before we got here, so we just use them for milk," Susan told me.

"How long have you been living here?"

"We stayed in our house for a good few months and then I came right here, a few of the people here our from St. Louis and we travelled with them to find a good settlement and we found here," Susan told me simply, the guy and girl had finished cooking some of the eggs and were handing out some on plates with a few strips of bacon, I was impressed with the food. Susan and I got an egg and bacon to share. You were never going to get the amount of food you ate before the attack but it was enough to live on. Soon some of the patrol group returned back for breakfast, Four was there as well. He came right over to me when he saw me and got passed a plate of food to share with the dog.

"How was your sleep?" He asked me sweetly as he began eating.

"Yeah it was fine, I heard you're a weapons master," I said as he quietly stood next to me. It wasn't that noticeable but he was standing quite close to me.

"I wouldn't say that but thanks," Four said as he ate some of the eggs. He was wearing a short sleeve white shirt which really showed off his muscles and his tattoos that before I never noticed the intricate designs, he always wore long sleeves to protect from the sun. They were tribal tattoos and mostly just black and white designs. He noticed me staring and just raised his eyebrows at me and I rolled my eyes. "Zeke, Uriah and I used to always have weapons contests since I had to learn quickly how to fire a gun and work a knife, they grew up on a farm and knew all this stuff. Not long after that I was kicking their asses," He was smiling and I realised this was the first time he mentioned his friends by name. "I'll show you one time," He said finally and I just nodded, when I looked over at Susan she just raised her eyes at me and I shook my head smiling.

"What are you doing the rest of the day?" I asked Four, he was prodding at the bacon before tossing it to the dog.

"I think I'm hunting and doing more patrol, what about you?"

"She's helping me in the farm," Susan spoke up, Four looked at her and nodded. Now I could see why she thought he didn't like her. A guy whistled and waved Four over, he gave me a squeeze on my shoulder before walking off. Susan and I walked together to put our plate away before heading towards the crops and the animals. "Told you he hates me," She muttered as we walked around.

"He doesn't. He's blunt," I told her, we walked towards the kitchen tent. "Why are we going to the kitchen tent?"

"We are going to pick up scraps to feed the pigs, and some of the corn to feed the cows," Susan told me quickly before continuing "He's not blunt to you!" She exclaimed. "He even asked you how you slept," I just smiled at the ground and grabbed the bags Susan pointed to. We walked back to the pigs and cows, poor food on the dry ground. For a few hours Susan and I watered and picked tomatoes and potatoes from the plants. The afternoon sun was hot so we stopped for lunch, walking back towards the fire I heard something that made my heart speed up. A white car pulled up near the fire, I jogged up to the car. My hopes high, but the two governs that stepped out of the car dressed in white uniforms were not Caleb. I let out a breath.

"Will, Peter!" Susan called as she jogged up behind me. She embraced the uniformed men. "This is Caleb's sister," She said pointing to me, I looked at them face solemn that they weren't him.

"Wow we found the famous Beatrice Prior," The man said looking at me.

"Where is he?" I asked voice low trying to contain my tears of disappointment.

"He's back at the base in Chicago," The other man, Will, spoke up.

"Can you tell him she's here so he can come and get her?" Susan spoke up for me, I was grateful for her speaking for me.

"He's stuck on base duty, he's not allowed to leave," Peter said, by his voice I could tell he was hiding something.

"Can't you take me there?" I asked. Peter looked at me, checking me out, I felt uncomfortable but held my ground,

"We can," Peter said, they began unloading crates from the truck.

"My friend has to come to, he has a dog," I said quickly, looking around for Four.

"Both of you can come," Will said, Peter glared at him but didn't say anything. "Get your stuff we are leaving in 5 minutes," I ran back to the tent, grabbed my bag, rolling my sleeping bag up.

"Tris?" I could hear Four from behind me. I was about to start explaining but he just grabbed his bag. "I already heard lets go," We started jogging back to the truck, Polly running after us. Will and Peter took one look at Four and I could see Peter glaring at him but Will opened the door of the car for us.

"We should get there in 5 hours," Will told us over his shoulder as he got into the drivers seat. Polly sat on the floor in front of Four, calmly looking around. We started away from the camp and I could see Susan waving and I mouthed the words thank you back to her.

"What do you do in Chicago?" Four asked, suspicion in his voice.

"We are the scouts that go and map out settlements and come out with supplies. But up there we have a large settlement in the city, the government is slowly re-starting the electricity lines and water lines but it's a long process," Will told us over his shoulder, Four didn't look convinced. We travelled in silence, the four of us plus the dog had nothing to say. After nearly an hour, the truck hit something and came to a halt.

"Shit what was that?" Peter said, both of them got out. On the left was a long stretch of trees and the right was just plains. "It's an ambush!" Quickly Four pushed me down onto the seats as shots rang out, hitting the car and breaking the glass. Polly was going crazy, barking and growling.

"Stay down Tris," He pulled out his handgun, looking out the window and let out a few shots towards the aggressors. As I glanced up I saw a group of men, carrying assault rifles. Will and Peter were at the front of the car, shooting back at the rebels. "Get out of the car we need to run," Four commanded, I got out to the right. Four came out after me going round the back of the car and I followed him. "You need to run across to the cover of the trees, I'll cover you," Four said, my face gave away my fear. "You'll be fine," I pulled out my knife and Four nodded at me and I run out from behind the car and a few meters towards the trees. I kept running but got knocked over by something as I looked up a man had me pinned to the ground and my knife was hit out of my hand. His dark eyes bore into mine as he smiled menacingly at me, his hand gun was pressed into my forehead. My breathing quickened as his head moved closer to mine, his mouth at my ear.

"Aren't you a pretty thing?" He hissed to me, I shuddered out of fear of what he was planning.

"Get the fuck off me," I growled back and he chuckled. The quick distraction gave me time to hit his hand off and elbowed him in the face. I tried to crawl away to get up and run but he reached out to grab my foot and quickly had me pinned again. His bleeding nose added to the scars he had along his face.

"You bitch," He growled the barrel of his gun on my forehead. I squeezed my eyes shut as a shot rang off but after seconds I could feel the man's dead weight fall on me, and I wasn't the one shot. I rolled him off me, seeing the gun wound through his forehead and luckily it wasn't in my forehead. I saw Four running towards me, the dog alert and on edge behind him. I could see he had both our bags that I nearly forgot in the truck.

"Shit Tris are you alright?" He saw, he grabbed my face looking me over. I let out the breath I was holding and nodded. "Ok, I know you're freaked out but we need to move I'm sure they weren't the only ones here," He handed me my bag and we kept moving, I didn't know where Peter and Will went but Four didn't say anything, they might be dead. We kept running I could hear shots still in the distance and I hope the two governs were ok. Finally after I could run anymore I stopped, rest my hands on my knees. Four turned around and I could see him in the corner of his eye sigh and walk back to me. "You ok?" I nodded my head but I could feel the tears gathering, I didn't want him to see me cry but I couldn't help it. My tears turned into sobs and I sat on the floor of the forest. I could feel Four sit next to me, he took my shoulder into my arms hugging me as I cried.

For minutes we sat there and I leaned into his strong embrace. The disappointment that I was so close to finding my brother was there but it was now ripped away from me. Finally I swallowed the tears but Four still held me so I leaned back my head resting against his muscled chest. "Thank you," I whispered and nothing else was said between us and we gathered ourselves up. We continued on walking northwards through the forest. Each step, ironically, felt like I was moving away from finding my brother and not towards him.

"Tris," I kept walking, not really registering Four calling me. "Tris!" He then yelled, I turned to see him metres behind me. To the left of him was the river, that I hadn't even noticed until now. "It's getting dark we should stop now," His voice was quiet but I couldn't figure out why. I just nodded, Four brought together some twigs and started a fire. He pulled out a can of beans and heated it over the fire. I pulled out my sleeping bag and sat on it, staring at the licking flames. Four passed me the can of warm beans and I ate it slowly. He was watching me.

"Why are you watching me?" I said growling, he looked away and watched the fire. We sat in silence, I passed him the can and he thanked me quietly. "Why are you being so weird?" I angrily asked him, my eyebrows burrowed. He looked at me, eyes studying my face, running over every centimetre. "Answer me Four!" I exclaimed.

"Are you ok?" He finally sighed out, worriedly looking at me. "I mean you almost got killed, you've been ignoring me," The look on his face made all the emotions come back and I started crying again. He took me into his arms, letting me cry into his shirt, again.

"I'm sorry," I muttered out through my chokes and sobs.

"It's ok, it'll be ok," He said softly, his head resting in my hair. He waited until I stopped crying again before he began to move.

"Please," I said as he began to get, he looked at me curiously. "Lay with me," I said simply, the expression was wiped from his face and the only thing that was there was surprise but he snapped out of it and grabbed his sleeping bag and moved it directly next to mine. I leaned moved back into him when he finally laid next me, he wrapped his arms around my body and that's how we slept.


End file.
